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Post by heavymetalpastor on Dec 5, 2004 13:54:35 GMT -5
what is the strongest possible material to make a good blade? i want something i can wail on a tree with! well maybe not literally. but i want to duel and choreograph fights. and i wanna be abe to wail the sabers with no worry about breaking or cracking.
I dont really care much about affects like sounds or lighting up, but they would be cool too.
thanks
John
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Post by Primrodo on Dec 5, 2004 17:45:56 GMT -5
1/2" fiberglass. Best material I have ever seen or used, ever. And I have used them all.
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Post by heavymetalpastor on Dec 5, 2004 18:09:36 GMT -5
like used in fishing poles?
also where would i be able to find some 1/2 inch thick?
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Post by Saberbelt on Dec 5, 2004 22:03:35 GMT -5
Tap Plastics - thats where I get my blades from and I love them - you can't break the things
Dave
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Post by heavymetalpastor on Dec 5, 2004 22:11:32 GMT -5
would acrylic do good? and what do they mean about cutting them in half to ship them.... I want a 3 1/2 foot blade.
or maybe even 4 foot
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Dec 8, 2004 0:37:00 GMT -5
Fiberglass you say, huh? So tell me guys, when you strike something with it, does it vibrate much? That's the one thing I don't like about fighting with the polycarbonate el blades, you hit them together and you get all this... um... "reverb", for lack of a better word.
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Post by Primrodo on Dec 10, 2004 12:32:09 GMT -5
Acrylic is bad, it will shatter. What they mean about cutting it down is so they don't have to ship a 6' long package. You can ask to get a 6' cut down to 3.5 and 2.5 long peices and do that twice. They seemed willing for me  As for vibrations...it plays in part of 2 aspects as everything will vibrate. How you hold your hilt and how the saber holds the blade. These play an important part. |
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Mon-Jas Charan
Message Board Member
"Poena Vigoratus. Pullus cavo vix. Palma , est eternus"
Posts: 2,630
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Post by Mon-Jas Charan on Dec 10, 2004 13:00:14 GMT -5
The guys here use Acrylic blades, they are made of the same plastic that is used for the "glass" that is around Hockey rinks. I have watched them spare and have never see one break.
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Post by mooglar (Malim Vincible) on Dec 10, 2004 13:34:06 GMT -5
I've never used fiberglass, so I can't compare, but polycarbonate is darned near indestructible. I've had good luck with it.
Leda: As primrodo mentioned, what you're experiencing is similar to what baseball players (and swordsmen) experience when they hit something. Most places along a bat or a blade that you hit something, it will set a up a reverberation and transfer the shock to your hands. That's why kids playing softball and baseball will drop a bat as if it were electrified sometimes.
What batters do is look for a "sweet spot," which is a resonant spot where most of the energy of the swing goes into the ball instead of some of it going into the bat (and thus the batter's hands). The sweet spot, as primrodo mentioned, depends not only on the bat (or saber, in this case) but also how the bat is being held and swung (ie, two players using the same bat will find different "sweet spots").
Unfortunately, when sparring, as I'm sure you know, you can't control where the other blade is going to hit yours much of the time. So there's not a lot you can do other than wear gloves to absorb some of the shock.
Though, it does occur to me that, with a saber bearing a polycarbonate blade, that having the blade fixed in too tightly would also increase energy being transferred up the blade. I don't know if you built the saber or not or if the saber can be modified, but giving the blade a little play or perhaps putting in some rubber O-rings around the part of the blade that is inside the hilt might help. Just an idea.
BTW, apologies if you already know all of this. Don't mean to imply you don't!
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Post by Johann Shinobi on Dec 10, 2004 17:15:23 GMT -5
You all might laugh, but for sparring blades I use 1/2" PVC in mine. It isn't the best for durablity, but it is cheap. plus if you are sparring correctly as you would with real blades you won't be "wailling" on them enough to break them all the time. plus very little vibration. but I would go with Polycarbonate, 3/4" hollow tubes, for the light up blades.
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Dec 10, 2004 17:26:20 GMT -5
No... I didn't know this about the baseball bat. And I didn't think of using o- rings or some sort of rubber material for shock absorbtion. The sabers I use to spar with are the ones I have made by lightech, with the el blade that clicks in place and is secured by a screw. I'll have to see if I can fit it with something that will secure it better. Thanks for the advice.
What I think contributes to the problem is that the blade is just too long... I wish there was an easy way to shorten it a bit so that it's the right length for me. Maybe I'll look into that too.
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Post by petary791 on Dec 22, 2004 0:31:21 GMT -5
...but I would go with Polycarbonate, 3/4" hollow tubes, for the light up blades. Yeah i'm working on my 3/4" PVC blades now as we speak, but where can I pick up some of this polycarbonate stuff? I've googled, ebayed, and no answers. |
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Post by Johann Shinobi on Dec 22, 2004 9:41:39 GMT -5
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Post by mooglar (Malim Vincible) on Dec 22, 2004 11:10:35 GMT -5
Also, you can try www.mcmaster.com/ I think they call them "hollow rods" instead of tubes, but they're the same thing. They also have them at www.modernplastics.com/retail.htm#though I have only dealt with them in the store, not ordering and having it shipped. |
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Post by Primrodo on Dec 22, 2004 20:02:52 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]
The guys here use Acrylic blades, they are made of the same plastic that is used for the "glass" that is around Hockey rinks. I have watched them spare and have never see one break.
[/glow] They do, eventually they have inpact points that shatter, not indestructable. The thing I don't like about polycarb is that it tends to whip around pretty bad. Enough taht a parried swing can still bend and smuck ya. |
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